Undamaged virgin hair is smooth and shiny; its cuticles on the surface of the hair lie down smoothly making the combing easy. The hair surface is also hydrophobic in nature preventing excessive water absorption during washing. When the hair is either mechanically damaged through back combing, heavy brushing, or chemically damaged through bleaching, perming or coloring, the hair surface becomes rough and frizzy and difficult to detangle and comb. As the hair surface becomes more hydrophilic, the resulting hair fibers swell during washing, making the hair even more difficult to comb.
Current conditioning and/or styling systems for regular and damaged hair generally use one or more combinations of cationic surfactants, amphoteric surfactants, silicones, fatty alcohols, polyquaterniums, amino acids, proteins, lipids and humectants. Wet conditioning of regular or damaged hair is accomplished by neutralizing the anionic charge of the hair by positively charged surfactants and polymers and creating a hydrophobic layer from surfactant and polymers. This hydrophobic layer results in a reduction of the swelling of the hair fibers by making the hair more hydrophobic and smoothening the cuticle layers thus and reducing friction of the hair fibers. An overall result of wet conditioning is improved detangling, manageability and soft feel of the hair. Upon treatment with cleansing systems like shampoos, 2/1 shampoos, body washes or shower gels, the combing performance, detangling properties, hydrophobicity of the hair and lubricity are not maintained sufficiently.
U.S. Publication Number 20060217285 discloses a controlled structure copolymer comprising at least two different parts, a first part A, amphoteric or zwitterionic, including anionic or potentially anionic units, and cationic or potentially cationic units, or zwitterionic units, and another part B, non amphoteric or zwitterionic. Said copolymer further exhibits a high potential for adaptation, through variation in its composition, in order to improve or modify the properties of compositions in which it is introduced.
U.S. Publication Number 20060217285 assigned to Rhodia discloses a concentrated ingredient for treating and/or modifying surfaces, especially for treating and/or modifying the skin and/or the hair. The invention also relates to the use of this ingredient in cosmetic compositions, for example in shampoos, shower gels or leave-in or rinse-out hair conditioners. The ingredient comprises a conditioning agent and a polymer for aiding deposition.
U.S. Publication No. 20060217285 assigned to Rhodia discloses compositions for household care which include a cationic nanogel, particularly for treating and/or modifying hard or textile surfaces. The composition particularly enables a hydrophilization of hard surfaces, particularly useful in cleaning or rinsing operations.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,737,237 assigned to Phodia Chimie discloses a controlled structure copolymer comprising a (block A)-(block B) diblock copolymer, a (block A)-(block B)-(block A) triblock copolymer or a (block B)-(block A)-(block B) triblock copolymer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,225,429 discloses a process of making a vinyl caprolactam (VCL)-based polymer which comprises suspension polymerizing the monomers in aqueous medium in the absence of an added protective colloid, wherein polymer formed at an early stage of the polymerization functions as a dispersing agent to maintain polymer particles suspended in water throughout the polymerization.
U.S Publication No. 20110003956 assigned to BASF discloses precipitation polymers obtainable by polymerization of a monomer mixture which comprises 30 to 99% by weight of at least one nonionic water-soluble monomer a) and at least one monomer b) different from a) selected from i) monomers carrying at least one hydroxyl group, ii) anionic monomers and iii) mixtures of i) and ii), if appropriate a monomer c) carrying at least one amino group, if appropriate further monomers, where the total amount of a), b), c) and d) is 100% by weight and where the monomer mixture, based on the total amount of a), b), c) and d), comprises less than 0.1% by weight of a monomer with at least 2 free-radically polymerizable double bonds per molecule. The invention furthermore relates to the use of these polymers as rheology modifiers for aqueous compositions, to aqueous compositions comprising these polymers and to the use of the polymers for thickening cosmetic and pharmaceutical preparations.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,756 B2 discloses hydrophobically modified polycarboxylate polymers that are useful for promoting soil release from fabrics, particularly cotton and cotton-containing fabrics, by contacting the fabrics with compositions comprising the polymers.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,451 assigned to Calgon Coporation discloses a keratin conditioning composition comprising: (a) about 5% to about 50%, by weight, of a surfactant component selected from the group consisting of anionic surfactants, amphoteric surfactants, cationic surfactants, nonionic surfactants, and zwitterionic surfactants; (b) about 0.05% to about 10%, by weight, of a water soluble, organic, ampholytic polymer; (c) about 0.05% to about 10%, by weight, of a water soluble, organic, cationic polymer; (d) zero to about 70%, by weight, of a water insoluble liquid; and (e) an aqueous carrier. The method for treating keratin based substrates according to the present invention comprises contacting the substrate with such composition.
The PCT Publication No. WO2000057847A2 assigned to Calgon Corporation discloses a hair conditioning shampoo composition that contains (a) a surfactant component that can contain anionic surfactants and/or amphoteric surfactants (optionally including zwitterionic and nonionic surfactants), (b) a dispersed, insoluble, nonionic silicone hair conditioning agent, (c) a water soluble, organic, ampholytic polymer hair conditioning agent; and (d) an aqueous carrier. The conditioning shampoo composition optionally contains an organic, water insoluble, liquid component.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,879,670 assigned to Calgon Corporation discloses novel conditioning polymers containing (meth)-acrylamidopropyltrimethyl ammonium chloride, meth(acrylic acid) or 2-(meth)acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid and, optionally, a C1-C22 alkyl (meth) acrylate and the use thereof in a cosmetically acceptable medium for the treatment of a keratin-containing substrate.
U.S. Publication No. 20110318285 assigned to Hercules Incorporated relates to a personal care composition additive for use on keratin substrates in order to provide long lasting benefits to the keratin substrate such as in conditioning systems, such as 2/1 shampoo's, leave-on and rinse off conditioners, for hair and skin, or for imparting greater water resistance to such personal care compositions as sunscreens or cosmetics.
Therefore, there is an increasing demand for hair care products designed to retain the properties of “virgin hair” and to prevent possible damage during the chemical and mechanical treatment. In the present application, the limitations set forth above are addressed by a personal care conditioning and/or styling composition for a keratin substrate comprising: (A) at least one conditioning and/or styling copolymer obtained by polymerizing (i) about 50 wt. % to 97 wt. % of at least one cationic or pseudo-cationic monomer; (ii) about 1 wt. % to 30 wt. % of at least one anionic monomer; and (iii) about 0.1 wt. % to 20 wt. % of at least one hydrophobic monomer; (B) at least one cosmetically acceptable excipient; and (C) optionally, at least one effective amount of personal care active ingredient.